This article talk about a complaint filed by the Humane Society against Smithfield pork claiming that Smithfield used YouTube to show false information regarding Smithfield's animal rights and environmental practices. Smithfield uses techniques that confine their pigs into "gestation crate" that severely restrict the animals' movement. I am interested to see what unfolds from this complaint and if Smithfield will reconsider their practices.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QOR21G2.htm
I don't think Smithfield is required to include all the things that the Humane Society wants mentioned in the video such as Smithfield's failure, "to disclose that castrations and other painful medical procedures are performed on pigs without anesthesia, and that the footage shows "pristine housing conditions" for pigs that do not reflect typical conditions."
ReplyDeleteI do believe that information should be available somewhere on the company website as transparency is very important in that industry.
Aside from this, I think the real issue here is that Smithfield is attempting to MISLEAD the public. I can see Smithfield perhaps highlighting the more attractive features of their facilities in their videos, but to blatantly attempt to mislead the public would be a valid reason to press a law suit. If McDonalds wants to give them awards for their practices, then McDonalds will suffer the consequences. Capitalism contends that McDonalds would not endorse Smithfield if they were doing something condemnable in the eyes of the public. We will see how this one turns out.